Forever and ever
by malfoyforever
Summary: Andromeda and Narcissa are given the task of writing on Bellatrix's tombstone. Will Andromeda, who has stayed behind, be able to face the reality and not deny her belonging to the three they once were? Or will her hatred remain? ONESHOT, COMPLETE.


Forever and ever 

"So," said the brown-haired woman, looking awkward.

"So," the blonde woman echoed, glancing at the blank tombstone, all sourness faded, seeming years older than when she had first arrived.

There was silence. They stood side by side, the wind blowing on their long hair, making their robes flap around their ankles.

"What do we write on Bella's tomb?" Andromeda asked finally, her heavily lidded brown eyes meeting Narcissa's icy blue.

The latter was surprised her sister – no matter what, Andromeda was her sister – used Bellatrix's childhood nickname. Throat tightening, she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

"I'll start."

She grasped her wand, casually yet with its usual grace absent, hand shaking.

_**Bellatrix Juno Black Lestrange (13 June, 1951 – 2 May, 1998) **_

_**You will be forever remembered as our fiercely protective elder sister; **_

_**As the clever, sharp-tongued girl who threw wild parties in the Slytherin common room; **_

Narcissa paused, not sure what to put next. She cast an expectant look at Andromeda.

Her sister sighed, and then bit her lip. There was so much she could put on her wretched sibling's tombstone... About how she killed Dora... Her baby... About-

Andromeda shook her head. She did not want to remember Bellatrix as the one who had murdered her daughter, though she knew she always would. She wanted to remember their good times together, however rare.

She pressed her lips together, her knuckles white as she held her wand, confidently, impassively.

_**And only for these. **_

_**We shall disregard your crimes. **_

_**Shall you find inner peace in death, my sister. **_

_**-Andromeda Elladora Black Tonks and Narcissa Corona Black Malfoy **_

"Thank you, Andie," said the blonde woman softly.

"You are welcome." Andromeda waved a hand dismissively, almost coldly. "I would like a moment alone, please."

Narcissa nodded as if she understood. "Lucius is waiting," she murmured, as if to herself. "We must check in at the Ministry for his trial."

"Good luck," she said shortly, though Andromeda really did not care.

When the woman was sure that Narcissa had gone, she knelt at the foot of the grave.

"How could you do this, Bella?" she demanded fiercely, glaring at the unforgiving night black tombstone, a trademark of the Black family – because Bellatrix knew, after all, much better than anyone what it meant to be a Black. Andromeda felt tears forming and hastily wiped them away, though there was no one else in the cemetery.

"Out of us three, I would have never expected you to succumb completely to Mother and Father's beliefs, Bellatrix. You were always the boldest, the wildest, the most reckless – no, I had always imagined Cissy to be the blood extremist. But I must have idolized you much for me to be so blind to your... ruthlessness." She scowled. "And then you – you go get a Dark Mark, immerse yourself into the Dark Arts, and become an insane serial killer."

Andromeda laughed bitterly.

"Azkaban did not do you any good – that, I am certain of. You break out after fifteen or sixteen years, back to your master – or should I say, lover?" She looked disgusted. "Finally, after killing Sirius – you don't remember the summers we had in France with him and Reg, do you? – you hunt down and murder –"

She could not take it anymore. She put her face in her hands, dry, vicious sobs tearing through her tired body. What Kingsley, Harry, Ginevra, Arthur had all said about her... crumbled down like a dry chocolate chip biscuit.

"I hate you, Bellatrix Lestrange!" she screamed, unaware at the moment of her likeness to the broken body lying underneath the ground, encased in a black, plain coffin bearing only the Black and Lestrange families' crests. "I fucking _hate_ you!"

The words and the continuing sobs echoed, echoed around her creepily in the dark graveyard.

Finally, Andromeda calmed slightly, a last sob hitching in her throat. She stumbled blindly, for her vision was still slightly clouded by tears, and grasped her sister's tombstone tightly. The onyx was cold, just as Bellatrix's hairy heart was and had been.

She turned her wand towards the bottom of the grave, for what would be the last time. Words appeared slowly, maybe even a tad reluctantly.

_**Even though we may not want it, our magic binds us and thus, we will be forever and ever reunited under the name of the Black sisters. **_

And Andromeda Tonks, née Black, got up and did not look back as she walked calmly from the cemetery, her only thoughts the warm soup she would cook for Teddy, Harry, and Ginevra once she arrived home.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hmm, I quite enjoyed writing this; Andromeda is the favourite of the Black sisters, by far. <em>**

**_Please read and review!_**


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